About Us

ABOUT THE FRIENDS OF THE DAILY TEXAN

Friends of The Daily Texan is a non-profit organization formed in the spring of 2013 by a group of concerned alumni. The Daily Texan is known as one of the best student-run newspapers in the country, producing notable alumni like Walter Cronkite and fulfilling an important watchdog role at the University of Texas. But in recent times, the newspaper has struggled for survival, with its revenue and circulation dropping in half over five years. A threat to cut print production days of The Daily Texan in the face of this bleak financial picture galvanized hundreds of alumni into creating a group that would not only raise money for the Texan, but establish alumni as a prominent advocate and valuable resource.

Mission

Promoting the publication’s long-term sustainability

The Friends of The Daily Texan is an association for alumni of The Daily Texan and others interested in promoting the publication’s long-term sustainability as a site of student press innovation. Through mentorship, fundraising, networking and public education, Friends of The Daily Texan works alongside current Texan staffers to continue the publication’s rich tradition of journalistic excellence into the future.

Vision

Assist The Daily Texan as it transitions

Friends of the Texan will assist The Daily Texan as it transitions into the digital age, by:

Providing mentorship to Texan staffers, sharing with them not only new tricks of the trade but institutional memory, in a way that embraces the cherished history of the Texan while giving students the guidance to forge a new path in a new media environment.

Raising funds to give Texan staffers the financial bandwidth to innovate, to discover new business models and new ways of collecting and delivering news and ideas vital to the UT student body.

Networking Texan staffers and alumni with the objective of strengthening not only the Texan alumni community, but with assisting recent Texan grads as they transition into their professional lives.

Advocating publicly for the Texan as an independent medium for student voices.

To learn more about the board of The Friends of The Daily Texan, click here.